<Begin Segment 18>

MN: And before we get into more of your part-time work, I know that after Kahului Grammar, which is up to eighth grade, you went on to Maui High School. Where was Maui High located?

KM: Maui High School was about twelve miles from Kahului towards Hana. The first year was the first time that we commuted by bus. Prior to that, the students from Kahului had to commute by railroad. There was a railroad that went from Kahului to Paia. From Paia, they had to... I don't know if, I don't think the railroad went all the way up to Maui High. I don't know how they commuted from Paia to Maui High. But from Kahului to Paia, it was by railroad. From my time, we went by bus. It was a twelve-mile bus ride.

WN: How far was [inaudible] Poko from Paia?

KM: About two miles, maybe a mile and a half.

WN: So you're not sure how students went from the train station to Maui High?

KM: Because it was before my time.

WN: I wonder if they walked?

KM: They could. Because it hardly rained up there, it was dry country. So could be. Because Paia railroad station, Maui High  was here, this is Kahului. We'd go to Paia. But to go to Paia by car, you would have to go all the way down to the beach. It would be about three-quarters of a mile down, and you went another three quarters of a mile, and then catch this road to go up to Maui High School, which is a big U. And from the train station to Maui High, they must have had a shortcut. Because from the train station to Maui High is not the big U like this. The U, if you take the U, it's about... for instance, when I used to play football, there were no bus transportation after football practice. So all of us had to walk from Maui High all the way down to Paia, which was about a mile and a half, but we had to walk. There was no transportation after school. But from the railroad station to Maui High must have been a short walk.

WN: Maybe through the cane field.

KM: Right, almost directly across.

MN: And then in those days, was there a Baldwin yet?

KM: Baldwin started off, like I was in the eighth grade. Then the first freshman year, Wailuku students started Baldwin High School as the first class and went on until second, third, and fourth. Some of my classmates went to Baldwin. I don't know how they split those of us from going to Maui High and those of us... some of us went to Baldwin. They just started that school. The ninth grade was the old Iwao school, it wasn't, the Baldwin High School wasn't built yet. So they went from nine, ten, eleven, twelve, became a high school progressively. And so Eddie Honda, Judge Honda, he was in that class. It was the same class as I was, but he was, Baldwin High School.

MN: And then what were your feelings towards Maui High School? You're entering ninth grade, what did you think?

KM: Well, I didn't think much about it. Then at that time, I don't know why we did not even think about it, but that we were excluded from, the feeling was we were excluded from Baldwin because there was, number one, there was not enough room for Kahului students to go to Baldwin because it was already, the class was already set. It was very limited facilities, as I recall.

MN: And when you started going to Maui High School, and you looked around and you see your classmates, how was the mix this time? You said Kahului Grammar School was Japanese?

KM: Yeah, there was a different mixture at Maui High School. Because Maui High School, you know, at that time you had English-standard schools. Kahului was not an English-standard school, but there was one English-standard school in Spreckelsville. I think there was another English-standard school in Wailuku. But the other English-standard school, on a grade school level was Kaunoa School.

WN: Kaunoa.

KM: Yeah, Kaunoa school.

WN: Spreckelsville, yeah?

KM: Yeah, Spreckelsville. That was the English-standard school which my friend [inaudible] Lim had gone to. Because the father was a Korean minister, see? But I don't know he got involved, but he was a Kaunoa School graduate, but he's my classmate. So most of the Kaunoa graduates went to Maui High School. But most of them were Caucasian students. And so this group of Caucasians, is the first time that I started to have classmates who were Caucasian. In fact, I had a couple of haole girls in my class, but there weren't that many. But there was this group of Kaunoa School graduates who were mostly from the Caucasian employers' group or supervisory group. And so the mixture was... but we didn't feel any different. I didn't feel any different. My friends were still my friends and I made new friends. Fortunately, as a Boy Scout, I had people who lived in that Maui High School area, my very good friends. I had some very good friends as a Boy Scout. The Boy Scout wasn't limited to Kahului camp or town, but as a Boy Scout group, we had these Maui Boy Scout gathering. And in fact, even at interisland, you had, which is a big deal coming to... very few of us came to, we could attend a Maui jamboree but not Oahu. And so very early in my Boy Scout days, I made some very good friends who were my classmates as I went to Maui High School. So I felt very comfortable with these friends, especially. I had Eddie Okazaki and Wayne Sakamoto, couple of other friends. Oh, Clinton Shiraishi, who I got to know as a Boy Scout before I got to know them as my classmates in high school.

WN: Clinton Shiraishi is a Maui boy?

KM: He's a Maui boy.

WN: But he moved to Kauai later?

KM: When he married this Waimea store... I forgot the...

WN: Kawakami?

KM: Not Kawakami. It's the big market, department store in Waimea, Kauai. Big family, even today.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.